Well then I guess I am going to have to find a new owner, as based on what you said I have to do for him I will be waking him up as I am walking out the door to work and putting him to bead as soon as I get home from work.

I wonder if every conure owner out in the world is either unemployed or works from home? I cannot believe that people actually follow that routine. I am thinking if people followed this no one but independently wealthy or retired people would have a bird.

How depressing. No birds for me I guess. I feel very misled, actually lied to, by the pet store, as they specifically told me it would be fine that I worked day hours.

This is probably going to take me a while. Playing devils advocate tend to be that way for me and what I have to say will in some areas not what you want to hear and in some areas it might be something they can help you with this problem, but in any case there are going to be areas that no one will agree with me.

I am not a fan of either breeders or pet stores and many of the reasons are the same although there are some differences in my reasons, so lets just start this there. The pet store is there to make money and the first thing that most of them do is feed the cheapest foods that they can get away with, all in the name of profit. Many if not most of the sales peoples have had nothing to do with parrot until they went to work at the store and very few of them actually receive any parrot training or look into themselves, there job is to sell the birds and this often means that they tell you what you want to hear so as to make the sale. Their recommendations are sketchy at best. That is about all that I will say about that.

Next thing that you really don't want to hear at this time is that I can not refute any of the information that you have had shared with you in this thread. Pajarita is very much into these birds and she spends a tremendous amount of time keeping up on the latest scientific studies and research papers about parrots in just about every area that is or has been being studied, she is a treasure trove of knowledge concerning them plus she has years and years of experience with them.

In so many ways it would be best if all of the parrot owners in the world were either retired or work at home or wealthy enough that time and money were not an issue, but that is not the case, many parrot owners work full time jobs and so on.

There are things that you can do that will make it easier for you to keep your parrot, but if you use them you will still have to come back to the basics that have been shared with you so that you can reset the birds internal biological clock and thus the birds entire endocrine system and alleviate some of the damage. Captivity is very stressful for a parrot even under the best of circumstances and it is this stress that causes the most damage and the prime reason that you can never undue all of the damage.

The rehoming of a parrot is probably the single most stressful thing that can happen to a parrot, this is because every time that the bird is rehomed it is thrust into a totally alien environment that it is afraid of as it does not know if the new humans are a threat to them, they have no idea where there may be a predator lurking and waiting for a snack ( the bird), and it has lost everything that it thought that it knew and is all alone with no support system to help them maintain a sense of security and wellbeing, it is a very terrifying experience for them.

Parrots are photoperiodic and there is nothing that they can do to adapt to a human light schedule theirs is simply one of rise at sunrise and go to sleep at dark with full exposure to the dawn and dusk without the interference of any artificial lighting. They are physically built to be photoperiodic as their skull is so thin that the bird has light receptors right in the middle of its brain around the pituitary and pineal gland which are responsible for its breeding cycle and hormones although the secretions of these gland have an affect on every major system in the birds body. There are parrot owners who live so far north that the length of the day and nights are not conducive to the parrots well being as the day and nights are either too long or too short. To help with this you could set up full spectrum lighting that is designed specifically for parrots and then set up lights on a timer to mimic the two periods of dusk. This is not as effective as the real thing and you should use the natural lighting as much as possible.

You will learn that the birds daily diet is also very important especially when it comes to helping to regulate hormones and aggressive tendencies in your bird. So you will want to learn as much as you can about parrot nutrition.

The biggest issue that you will have other than the above mentioned issues is scheduling time with your bird and by that I mean both time out of the cage and personal one on one time on and with you. This time with or without you can play a very large role in how aggressive you bird will be as well as how happy and. or accepting of its life the bird is.

To summerize this, what I am saying is that although you should do your best to address the issues mentioned to make them in the birds best interests and well being there are way and things that you can do while working on these issues to make it so that you can have your parrot even though you are still part of the regular workforce, They are not the best but perhaps if you want and care enough about this bird that this could buy you the time to find a way to improve you life to the level that you can solve these issues as best as any of us has been able to do so far, and believe me when I say that we all fail to give them the life that they deserve.

Please don't let anything that I have said unduly discourage you or push you away. Please feel free to ask as many questions as you have the desire to or need to and we will try to help you to give your bird the best life that you can, but you will hear the good, the bad and the ugly, that is because above all else we are here for the birds and will try to give you not only truthful honest answers, we will also try to be helpful.

Are all parrot owners retired people or stay-at-home? No, they are not. There are parrots that live under the 12 hours of light and 12 hours of darkness we started following (as a great new 'discovery')back in the 80's as well as birds that live under a human light schedule. it depends on the species whether this works out or not for the birds and their owners. But it's very, very rare that it works out in the long run and, in truth, this is the reason why sooooo many parrots are rehomed. Because, as they get older, even the non-hormonal species (some of them are more 'hormonal' than others) start 'acting up'. People will tell you that they work full time and their bird is fine but it all depends on the definition of fine and the bird's age.Can you keep your bird working full time? Yes, you can but you would have to make significant adjustments to what you thought you were going to have with this bird. For example, you could get a person to come in every day and spend hours with the bird so although the bird is kept at a solar schedule (which would prevent your interacting with it when you are home), she/he could have the necessary hours of flight and one-on-one with somebody (I knew somebody who had an eclectus pair that had a housekeeper that was there for the birds during the day but it could be a relative or a neighbor, too). You could find a birdy daycare and bring it there in the am and pick it up in the pm, covering his carrier so it's not exposed to light while traveling (I knew a dog groomer in Pa that had a birdroom in her store for this use alone). You could get the bird DNA'd and get him or her a mate so it's not alone during the day and still be kept at a solar schedule. Personally, I think this is the best solution because you could feed and clean the cage (it would have to be a flight cage, of course) in the dark (this is not that hard, I used to do it when I worked full time), put the lights on timers (real easy to do) and the bird would not bond to another human. Like I said before, when GCCs are kept in tune with the seasons and fed right, they remain affectionate to the humans even when they have a mate of their own and, besides, you would be there every weekend and, during the long days of the summer, you will be able to interact both in the morning and the evening with the bird during the week, too (I get up before 5 am during the summer so as to be there for the birds at dawn). Personally, I try to get mates for all my birds even though I am here for them all day long, day after day, month after month. I prefer it that way because, if I can get them to bond to each other, it eases my 'load' when it comes to their happiness. I took in a lovebird from a couple that had found it in their balcony and, as soon as I had switched it to a good diet and gotten used to me, I got it a mate and it worked out great! They love each other to pieces and Peachy still loves me and comes out every day to fly around and perch on my shoulder and give me kisses.

It's not impossible, it's just a bit harder and a lot different than what most people expect... But then, having a parrot is always a lot different than what we expected

I would not give up either ! While parrots are not the easiest animal to care for, and we all fall short in their care, they are wonderful creatures and in my opinion it is well worth the effort that it takes to have a parrot friend and family member.

Hello and welcome to the forum. I too am very new to bird world for I adopted an old yellow named Amazon named George. Yes, it can be so overwhelming at first but I assure you that you'll catch your stride with all of this and things will all just fall into place. Don't give up!!

I dont know what you do but if you worked in your own private office or something you could take him to work? Just watching everyone running around and being busy in general would probably keep him quiet and he would mentally thrive from the social interaction.

When i give mine his breakfast sometimes he ignores it to spend time with me, then it hit me...i realised that sometimes social interaction is more important than eating to them.

Yes, in their natural environment no parrot is ever left alone for any reason from the time of hatching until they bird dies. This results in parrots which not only risk their own death to call for their flock and/ or mate to keep from being alone and is also so strong that the parrot's own sense of safety and well being is greatly reinforced by the normal everyday interactions between the members of the parrots flock. This is a very important aspect of caring for our birds that very few humans ever truly manage to grasp and has led to the rehoming of or placement of many parrots into rescues, It is difficult for humans to understand that parrots have a social drive to be together that is not only emotional and psychological but also physical. It is one of the more difficult of all of a parrots natural drives for us as working humans to fully understand and provide for in the daily care of our birds.

Well lets see what i can add.1. Blackberries raspberries my greencheeked love them. I would cut a few in half for her. Dont be surprise if his feet ture blue or red. LolIt not how much time you give out of the cage but that you are with him.Dependiing on the time you get up. If its light outside you sre fine he is awake. As for comming home if its still light outside sPend time with your little guy. If not and its getting dark then still spend time with him but not so much. Just remember one thing. Its still winer as it gets spring the livhting go to change and you will have more time with your little guy. And then on your days off you can give him more time. I work nights and sleep during the day so i give them time when i get home and before i go to bed. And when i get upto go to work. Also when you go to work leave a radio on some soft music so he has some noise while you are.gone.I hope this will help. I have a feww more things but dont want to make this to long.

It takes a great man to give advice tactfully But a greater to accept it graciouslyLogan Pearsall Smith